Typically horse stables utilize a bedding material such as saw chips, straw and other similar materials, to absorb the odor of manure and to make cleanup relatively simple. Originally, the process of removing the manure involved using a shovel-like device to scoop the manure plus any straw into a wheelbarrow. The contents of the wheelbarrow were then dumped into a landfill or used as fertilizer, which included both the manure and the straw. This method was inefficient for many reasons. The amount of wasted straw was high. With each scooped-load, a large amount of useful straw was discarded. Further, the mixture of straw and manure was not very valuable as fertilizer since manure, not straw, is what makes the fertilizer potent. Also, extra landfill area was needed to house wasted straw that should have been retained in the stall.
Improvements were made when the shovel-like device developed into a more rake-like device which could filter out the straw or bedding material from the manure. To utilize this type of device, a user would insert and raise the device containing the straw plus the manure, then manually shake the device so that the straw would fall through openings in the device. The user would then dump the remaining contents of the device which contained the manure and possibly a small amount of straw into a receptacle. The manual shaking of the rake-like device, however, is a strenuous process for the user as the load comprised of manure and bedding material can make the rake-like device difficult to scoop, raise and dump.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,044 to Russo entitled the “Horse Mucking Rake Device” also attempts to filter out the manure from the bedding material, by utilizing a rake-like device whereby a user manually shakes the device. The device, however, has tines separated apart from each other a distance large enough to pass both bedding material and manure between the tines.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,267 to Padgett entitled “Pelletized Animal Bedding and Process and Tool for Sifting Manure Therefrom”, discloses a device and method of removing manure similar to the Russo patent described above. Padgett teaches a device that has a rake-like head with walls to prevent the manure from falling out, but with space between each tine a distance large enough to pass the bedding material but not manure through the tines. The head is attached to an elongated handle which is used to lift the head containing the manure and bedding material. By manually shaking the rake-like tool, the bedding material falls through the head and the remaining manure can be deposited in a wheelbarrow or receptacle. As mentioned before, the manual shaking of the device can be strenuous and can lead to short-term or long-term physical exhaustion, pain or disability. Further, this method of removing the bedding material is inefficient, since shaking the device manually does not always maximize the removal of bedding material between the tines.
Woody Pet Products, Inc. produces a machine called THE GREEN MACHINE™ which also sifts the usable bedding material from disposable manure. THE GREEN MACHINE™ teaches, however, that by using a large, expensive, and loud electrical vibrating machine, manure can be separated from bedding material. Before using the sifter, the horses typically must be removed from the stable since the loud noise from the machine can excite or frighten the horses. The large and heavy machine must be carted in and out of each stall for use. Once positioned for sifting, the user shovels the bedding including the manure onto the top of the machine. A motor is activated to cause vibrations which cause the usable bedding material to fall through to the ground. The separated manure is dumped into a receptacle. Although the machine can separate the manure from the bedding material, the drawbacks are apparent. The machine is very expensive and heavy, and the tasks of removing the horses from the stalls and moving the heavy machine from stall to stall, before and after use of the machine, can be time-consuming and arduous. Also, since the machine consumes much power, a battery pack is insufficient to power it. Typically a long power cord must be used to supply the power.
What is needed is an improved scoop device for extracting manure from bedding material and having detachable parts and a power pack housed within a detachable handle for forming a counterweight to a scoop head when the device is lifted.